Friday, May 13, 2011

Margaret Wente and Her Lies Damn Lies

There is an excellent blog that I stumbled across: media Culpa, where they expose media stories that are erroneous, intentionally or unintentionally.

This week it was a column by right-wing journalist Margaret Wente, who misrepresented and “radically misconstrued” comments made by British environmentalist George Monbiot.

Monbiot has since corrected Wente's version of the facts:
Margaret Wente's column, in which she claims to summarize and support two articles of mine, contains a number of outrageous misrepresentations and distortions. She suggests I said that environmentalists "don't understand the science and they don't understand the economics." I've said nothing of the kind.

She also claims that I am Elizabeth May's "biggest critic." If so, May has little to worry about. I am a great admirer of hers, and I'm delighted that she is now a member of parliament. I am sure that, like Caroline Lucas, the sole Green MP in the UK, she will do an excellent job of holding the government to account, and will enrich the political life of the nation. Her "biggest critic" has never said a word against her.
This is quite a fall for the award winning journalist, who once gave a lecture entitled; Lies, damn lies, and journalism: how the media misinform the public.

Yes Margaret. Lies, damn lies. I guess it's now OK to try to misinform the public. Maybe Media Culpa should look into a few more of your columns, since clearly you believe it's now OK to just make stuff up.

3 comments:

  1. How are the mighty fallen.
    Just elect a federal government that condones lying, and suddenly everybody's doin' it.
    Well, except thee and me, Emily, and your ever-increasing number of Facebook fans.

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  2. If you look deep into her eyes they might have a tinge of yellow.

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  3. A child of considerable privilege, she is. At times like this, it shows - and not in a good way.

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